RQG 118 - Pop
Summary Grizzop heads to Damascus with the orcs to report the location of the water theft, while Azu, Hamid, Sasha, and Einstein take on an unseen attacker in Rome. Synopsis After marching the few hours to Damascus, Grizzop and the orcs make it to the Meritocratic offices in the afternoon. Rumors are flying around the city about the Meritocrat’s visit up the mountain, but no one really seems to have the story straight. The majority of the orcs spread themselves around and pick up odd activities to come off as less of a threat, on Bronk’s orders, while he and Grizzop head in to talk to Wilde. With a little effort, they are pointed to office 47b where they find him bloodied and face down at his desk. Back in Rome, Hamid scrambles outside to help Sasha while Azu and Einstein continue working on putting on armor. He can't see Sasha, but has a good idea where she was based on the damage. Sasha yells that it is invisible before being knocked out cold and tumbling down the ruins to the ground. Azu gives up on the armor, with only grieves and gauntlets donned, and races past Hamid, who points her in the right direction, to stabilize Sasha. Hamid closes his eyes and listens for the creature, pinpointing it directly above his head. In a desperate attempt to damage the thing, he casts Fire Ball on himself, bursting into a ball of flame. The creature cries out amid the dust cloud Hamid created. As the flame dies away, Hamid is still standing, in tattered clothes, but alive. In the office in Damascus, Bronk calls for assistance, while Grizzop checks vitals and attempts to heal Wilde, after two heals, he is still unconscious, at which Grizzop lifts his head to find that the blood is coming from his nose and ears. Bronk gets someone to get the office cleric, a follower of Dionysus. The cleric claims Wilde is just really tired until he takes the time to actually check, which shows him that there is actually an outside force involved. The creature goes after Azu, hitting her hard. Einstein attempts to distract the thing with noise and theatrics. Azu takes a swing at the spot where the creature had been a second before, and buries her great axe in it. As she tries to dislodge it from the body, she over-balances and her second swing clinks into the wall behind her. The blade leaves a slash, dripping an oil-like substance, floating for a moment, that fades quickly, but the thing cries out. Hamid fires a pair of Scorching Rays at the place Azu just landed a hit. One slams into the wall, puffing dust and bringing the creature into view for the first time. The other lands squarely and as the fire ripples across it, the whole thing flickers into visibility revealing a dripping, oily, amorphous blob that immediately catches fire and burns away. They head back to the basement, Azu carrying Sasha, Einstein heading back to his pot. The Dionysus cleric and Grizzop are not getting on in Damascus while trying to diagnose Wilde's malady. The cleric knows magic is involved and spends a bit actually trying to figure out what is up while attempting to heal him. Wilde comes to with no idea what happened. He says the temples couldn't help him. Upon request, Grizzop starts giving him a quick run down of why he was there in the first place, before sending the cleric and orc leader out of the room.He explains the hostage situation and that the others have headed to Rome. He then requests assistance in getting back with his friends. Wilde explains that he has been unable to sleep and is not willing to allow anyone to cast stuff on him because of the political climate. Grizzop takes Bronk to meet with the mayor about the river and gives him as shining a review as a grouchy goblin can with threats, before heading off with Wilde to the temple of Artemis together to try to take care of his sleep problem. Azu decides that Sasha will freeze to death if left unconscious and alone, so she and Einstein curl up with her to rest. Quotes * Alex: And with me today, I have: * Ben: Tis me, Ben, on one hundred twice nine. * Bryn: Bryn Monroe * Lydia: Lydia Nicholas for who knows how long. * Helen: And Helen Gould * Alex: And who are you playing? * Ben: Grizzop drik acht Amsterdam * Bryn: Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan * Lydia: Sasha...like, what would her epitaph be...Rackett. * Alex: We hardly knew ye. She preferred it that way. -- * Lydia: Literally, Sasha’s gonna die to a wardrobe malfunction. -- * Lydia: I don’t know if I respect your craft anymore! -- * Grizzop: Wilde, you in here? * Alex: Yes, he is! Face-down, covered in papers, with a small amount of blood around his head.I’m gonna jump to the party in Rome. * Helen: Oh my god! * Alex: Everything’s going so well! * Helen: Nooooo! * Alex: '''It’s all so good! Everything’s going so well! * '''Bryn: It’s fine, it’s fine, I’m gonna murder Alex. * Alex: Not if I murder you first! -- * Alex: Question, do I go for hard, brutal fatality, or dramatic and run the risk of not killing Sasha? * Helen: What do you think? * Alex: Okay, I’m gonna go for hard, brutal fatality. -- * Ben: What’s dramatically better? In your hour of need, calling on Aphrodite to save one of your friends? * Helen: No, I cannot, I cannot, I cannot risk then accidentally properly killing her when it’s like, mostly my fault we’re here. Have you not factored in the guilt? * Lydia: I mean, like, I’ve now got a chance to die in people’s arms, which is fine. Oh, but dying and never finding the body would have been kind of cool. -- * Bryn: I close my eyes. I listen for it. I can’t see it anyway, my eyes are only gonna confuse me. Halflings have keen senses. Dragons canonically at high enough level, and a dragonborn sorcerer at high enough level gets blindsight. * Alex: That’s at high enough level. * Bryn: Yeah, I don’t have it. -- * Alex: So that was another natural one on the imposed stealth check for the permanently invisible creature. God! * Ben: It’s used to being invisible so it just clatters about the place. * Bryn smugly: I wasn’t looking. * Alex: It’s immediately above you. * Bryn: And close overhead? * Alex: Sorry, sorry, that was Alex giving a silent approving nod. * Bryn: I cast Fireball. On myself. * Helen: Nooooooooo! * Ben: Hero Hamid! Hero Hamid! -- * Helen: Oh god, oh god, I can’t take this. * Alex: That’s a lot of dice. * Helen: That’s so many dice. * Alex: Are you forgetting something before you roll? * Bryn: What? * Alex: You’re in Rome, baby. * Bryn: The thing is, if it goes wrong I just explode anyway, right, so it has the same exact mechanical outcome. * Alex: Maaaaaybe. * Ben: But it might be maximized. * Bryn: Ohhhhhh god. * Alex delighted: Oh Ben! -- * Alex: What’s the damage you’re reflexing against? Because I fear it’s a fatal amount. * Helen: Ohhhh Bryn. * Lydia: Oh yeah, it’s like immediate failure. * Helen: I’m not even looking your way, I’m gonna turn around and you’re gonna be dead. * Alex: What is it? * Bryn: 63 damage. * Ben, Lydia, and Helen all shout in horror. * Ben: You can’t halve that! You can’t talk that halved. * Alex: Even halved you’re still going down. * Bryn: I have fire resistance 10. * Alex: Would you like me to roll first or would you like to roll first on the reflex? * Ben: Roll at the same time. * Alex: Yeah, alright! On three, Bryn, on three. * Bryn: Guys, I’m honestly not sure I can look. This literally kills me instantly if I fail this this reflex save. -- * Lydia: No, take me! It’s much better if Sasha dies, everyone wants to see him turn into a dragon. * Alex: I know. * Ben: But what if he just popped? * Chaotic laughter * Lydia: But what if! * Ben: There was too much dragon inside him! * Alex: Oh, no, this is so bad. -- * Bryn: The DC of the save is 18. I’m genuinely shaking right now. * Lydia: I can’t handle, I cannot handle, I literally can’t even. * Helen: I am going to faint. * Bryn: My reflex bonus is 8, this is a 50/50 chance. -- * Ben: One, two, three * Bryn: Yesssssss! * Ben clapping: Ohhhhhhhhh! * Helen: Oh my god! * Bryn: I survived! I survived! -- * Alex: Let’s do this from Azu’s standpoint. Hamid, he takes his little step, he closes his eyes, goes quiet for a moment. Booom! Massive explosion, like blowing the fronts of buildings explosion, like really potent explosion. There is then a cry from above Hamid. You have no idea what it is, you can’t even see what was there, even if it was revealed, because of all the dust and stuff that’s thrown up. At the end of it, Hamid is still stood there, in a small crater, surrounded by scorch marks, his little clothes in tatters. * Hamid: Oh dear! -- * Grizzop looking at Wilde’s unconscious body: Oh dear. -- * Grizzop: Okay, Wilde’s out, ,apparently he overworked, I don’t know. * Ben: I lift his head up, because there’s blood coming out from somewhere. * Alex: Ears and nose. * Helen and Lydia: Oooooo * Grizzop: Ooo, his brain might’ve popped. * Bronc: Can that actually happen? * Grizzop: Arcane caster, no idea, probably, might turn into tentacles or something. It’s weird. Anyway, right, so he’s not dead. Great. Might be brain dead. Not so great. So, let’s go tell someone. -- * Cleric: Yeah, he’s just really tired. * Grizzop: Okay, why’s he bleeding out nose and ears then? * Cleric: '''Just seems really tired to me. * '''Grizzop: Cool, well, next time I sleep and bleed from the ears and nose, I’ll be with you. -- * Cleric: Hmmm, well that’s strange. He’s not just tired. * Grizzop: Oh really? * Cleric ''looks in the ears:'' Brain might’ve popped. -- * Grizzop: What’ve you been up to? * Wilde starts rubbing his face and eyes: I have no idea. * Grizzop: You didn’t take our advice, did you? * Wilde: What advice? * Grizzop: '''Sleep. You were facedown on your desk, bleeding from the ears and nose. * '''Alex: Tries to stand up. And sits back down again. * Grizzop: Sit down. That is a puddle of you. * Wilde: Okay. I’m, uh… * Grizzop: You need to go to a temple and get yourself sorted out. * Wilde: Tried that, didn’t work. * Grizzop: Go to a better temple and do that. * Wilde: Tried that, didn’t work. * Grizzop: Okay, Wilde. Well… * Wilde: Look, I’m not fit...what’s up? What you need? -- * Grizzop: What’s happening to you? This isn’t...is someone poisoning you? * Wilde ''lets out a breath:'' If they were that’d make things a lot easier, I don’t know what’s happening. I haven’t slept in a long time. That’s not by choice. * Grizzop: Right. Get someone to cast Sleep on you? * Wilde: I’m really reticent to get anyone cast things on me these days. Cause things are...things are more complicated than when we started out, aren’t they? -- * Grizzop: Look, let’s go to the Temple of Artemis. If we can trust anyone, we can trust them. They’ll be able to cast Sleep on you and maybe...I don’t know, I don’t know, if I hadn’t found you, you might have just bled out on your desk, and no one wants to die at work. -- * Alex: you reckon you can stop her dying, but you don’t reckon you can get her on the path to health freezing in a basement. That’s not conducive to care. * Helen: Am I gonna have to cuddle Sasha. * Alex: you tell me. * Helen: I think I’m gonna have to cuddle Sasha. * Lydia: She doesn’t resist. * Ben: Things really are bad. * Alex: The most fulsome hug Sasha’s had in years. Dice rolls and Mechanics In Rome Initiative: Hamid, Bad'un, Einstein, Azu, Sasha Hamid: Moves out of the basement, rolls 30 on a perception, sees damage, but no Sasha, moves toward it. Bad'un: Rolls 11 damage on Sasha, taking her down to -7. Moves over Hamid, who fails a perception with a 16. Einstein: Continues armor assistance. Azu: Uses full move action to move to Sasha, passes heal check with a 19 to stabilize her. Hamid: Rolls a 21 to isolate the square in which the Bad'un is located. It critically fails it's opposed stealth. It is in the square immediately above him. Casts Fire Ball on his own square. A Nat 1 on the "Rome is awful" roll causes the spell to "fail", maximizing it with maximum damage of 63. He rolls a 18 (10+8 modifier), hitting the saving throw DC exactly, taking 21 damage with his 10 fire resistance. The Bad'un also makes it, for 31 damage. Bad'un: Rolls a 2, but still hits Azu's unarmored AC of 9. She takes 31 damage with 2 hits. Einstein: moves 20 feet out of the building Azu: Mischance roll for invisibility fails, Azu rolls a nat 20 to hit, but doesn't confirm with a 16, rolls 12 damage. Then, misses the second attack with a nat 1. Hamid: Takes defensive posture and fires Scorching Ray. The "Rome is awful" roll lets the spell succeed AND maximize. Concealment fails for one attack works for the other. Rolls a 14 against ranged touch AC, hitting it for the maximum damage of 28. In Damascus Grizzop: rolls a 7 on a heal check, Wilde is alive. Lay On Hands heals 6 and removes fatigue, second casting heals 3. Rolls a 14 knowledge religion check, knows that the Dionysus cleric is a higher up Plot Notes Category:Episode Category:Season 3